The Global Mail opened its coverage of Australian arts on Monday with a curious piece from Stephen Crittenden about theatre blogging. Online writers haven’t stopped talking about it since.
Articles by Ben Eltham 
About Ben Eltham
Ben Eltham is a writer, journalist, researcher and creative producer. He trained in neuroscience and philosophy at the University of Queensland before spending the next decade as an arts critic and festival director. He was a founding director of Brisbane new culture festival Straight Out of Brisbane and has also worked at the This Is Not Art and Melbourne Fringe festivals. He writes regularly about Australian culture and politics for a range of publications, his play The Pacific Solution premiered at the Brisbane Festival in 2006 and his band Briztronix has released three albums and toured nationally. He is currently completing a PhD in cultural policy at the University of Western Sydney’s Centre for Cultural Research. Ben is a Fellow of the Centre for Policy Development.
Arts life after money: has the Australia Council ‘lost the plot’?
What happens when an arts organisation suddenly loses funding? For two small arts organisations that have recently lost their cash, after the crisis comes resilience.
My Cup Of Tea: Leave the glamour to Hollywood and celebrate niche
Were this week’s AACTA Awards any better than the old AFIs? The spruced-up gongs show the Australian film industry still hasn’t come to terms with its niche status.
My Cup Of Tea: Australia doesn’t need better films, just better distribution
Australian films only took 3.9% of the domestic box office last year. The Adelaide Film Festival’s outgoing director Katrina Sedgwick argues the entire business model of cinema is changing fast.
My Cup Of Tea: New cultural roadmap, but will there be a soundtrack?
The arts year will be dominated by key themes: the announcement of the National Cultural Policy, the deflation of the music festivals bubble, and fraught times at many smaller companies.
Australia Council review secret and hopelessly compromised
Arts Minister Simon Crean’s review of the Australia Council is much needed. But it’s been hopelessly compromised already by the choice of the man leading it.
My Cup Of Tea: The painful waiting game for arts bodies on funding
How do you plan for the coming year when you don’t know whether your main source of income will arrive? Arts organisations face a difficult time waiting for their grant announcements.
My Cup Of Tea: Putting bums on seats: new ways to sell old arts
The ultimate aim of arts companies is to put bums on seats. But the multi-media, multi-faceted strategy is an inexact science. Crikey speaks to arts marketers about the challenges of their jobs.
My Cup Of Tea: When too much arts is a bad thing: festivals at war on dates
The Melbourne Festival has put forth a proposal to change its dates to February or March. But no one asked the rest of the arts sector. Could Melbourne and interstate festivals cannibalise audiences?
My Cup Of Tea: Nowhere to pee, but music fans keep rocking on
Music festivals have the problems other arts sectors would die for. The logistics are a nightmare — like the recent Harvest Festival — but the fans keep coming.
Nothing changes in opera — and nobody seems to care
The reason opera is a “heritage” artform is that its audiences don’t want to see new operas. Time to abandon the fiction that it deserves more public funding than anything else.
Money and art: should businesspeople run the creative space?
The common message from much of the social sciences is that the arts and culture are more than just industries exchanging goods and services. They are constitutive parts of our everyday life.
My Cup Of Tea: The problem of being exceptional
Excellence. It might be a goal of our national cultural policy, but do we really know it means?
My Cup Of Tea: Controversy aside, snaps to Australian poets
Australian poetry is suddenly the subject of considerable debate. While there’s controversy over a new poetry anthology by UNSW Press, there’s wider optimism over the health of poetry more generally.
The arts where swords are mightier than pens
While policy wonks gathered in Canberra this week for tax and jobs summits, Melbourne played host this week to an international summit for arts and culture. In some parts of the world the arts can be about life and death.
My Cup Of Tea: Where arts and policy meet in the digital sphere
The Gillard government is embarking on a “digital culture public sphere” consultation as a part of its national cultural policy development. Kate Lundy talks to Crikey about what it is and why we should care.
Transparency please! Why the tax breaks for pokies clubs?
Has there ever been a more self-serving public campaign than the one being mounted by Clubs Australia? It’s time for a closer look at the alleged benefits of clubs to the Australian community.
My Cup Of Tea: Arts policy converging into a government hash
Government arts policy is a hash. The now its Convergence Review — which is posing serious questions about the future shape of cultural policy — is making the National Cultural Policy irrelevant.
My Cup Of Tea: The legacy of our departing gallery gurus
With the retirement of Edmund Capon from the Art Gallery of NSW and Gerard Vaughan from the National Gallery of Victoria within weeks of each other, two of the biggest jobs in the Australian art world are open.
My Cup Of Tea: If the ABC really cared about the arts …
What’s happening to the arts on the ABC? The trend is to cut programs and outsource production, but the broadcaster’s charter — and its talented staff — demands a greater commitment.
NSW budget: razor gang takes to grassroots arts funding
The NSW budget papers contain a $2.8 million cut to small arts grants. In the small-scale end of the sector that is proverbially impoverished, these budget cuts will be felt keenly.
My Cup Of Tea: A digital avenue for Australian musos on the Jays
Triple J’s new digital radio station — specifically devoted to new and emerging Australian contemporary music — is a step in the right direction for Australian content.
My Cup Of Tea: More channels but less local content on Australian TV
Australian content is being diluted by multi-channelling, according to a new Screen Australia report released yesterday.
My Cup Of Tea: No playing around, video games are an art form
The Freeplay independent games festival is on right now in Melbourne. Ben Eltham talks to festival director Paul Callaghan about the festival’s program and some of the trends affecting the sector.
My Cup Of Tea: A political arts discussion with broad strokes
Arts Minister Simon Crean has released a discussion paper on the government’s forthcoming National Cultural Policy. He speaks to Crikey about the competing agendas and the budget belt tightening.
